Biological Sciences -

Program Highlights

2018 Graduate Student Research Photo Art Competition Winners

158 photographs were entered into this year’s competition. A committee of faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, postdocs, and staff reviewed the randomly numbered entries and chose 15 winners, each of which awarded the photographer $300. This slideshow showcases a sampling of the winning shots.

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Beltran, Luis

A Galapagos Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis ssp. urinator) takes flight over the rich, warm waters of the Galapagos Archipelago. Photo taken from the edge of Española Island on December 16th, 2015.
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White, Dawson

Bug on a leaf in Peru.
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Beltran, Luis

A female variegated squirrel (Sciurus variegatoides) suspended from a small bush enjoys a juicy, fruity snack. Photo taken at the Monteverde Institute, Costa Rica on May 18th, 2016.
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Beltran, Luis

Three Española Marine Iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus ssp. venustissimus) huddle and bask together after foraging for algae off the coast of Española Island in the Galapagos. Photo taken on December 12th, 2015.
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Rowe, Yuliana

A common house-spider (Family Theridiidae, Class Arachnida) juggles her egg sac and a potential prey item. Taken in the photographer's garage in Northern Virginia. Spiders rock!
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Chancellor, Stephanie

This is one of the many octopuses that live in Jervis Bay, Australia. Here octopuses seem to behave a little differently. Octopuses previously have been thought to be solitary predators, but in Jervis Bay there are two sites where octopuses live closely, interacting with one another. Their interactions, however, are not very friendly and a lot of times end up in some pretty brutal fights.
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Widhelm, Todd

A thallus of Pseudocyphellaria glabra in the beech forest along Whakapapa Nature Walk, Tongariro National Park, North Island, New Zealand in November 2017.
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Beltran, Luis

A group of golden ants (Camponotus sericeiventris) traverses a world of leaf litter in search of resources for the colony. Photo taken in the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve on May 17th, 2017.
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Widhelm, Todd

Two stunted beech trees on Isla de Navarino, Chile. I saw these while hiking to our campsite during a collection trip in December 2017.

Departmental Highlights

28 tenure-track faculty, 9 non-tenure-track faculty, 1800 undergraduate students and 100 graduate students

Take a look at what we have accomplished

Pride Points

#1825 Students declared BioS majors for the Fall '18 semester. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences showed a record enrollment gain of nearly 4% from last year.
73rd US News & World Report, UIC's Department of Biological Sciences graduate program moved up two places in the ranking to 73rd nationally.

Meet Kaylee George!

My daughter Kaylee (BIOS ‘20) has had an amazing experience at UIC so far. She has volunteered this past year at the Field Museum and the Notebaert Museum with hours in the triple digits. This summer she is an intern with the Naperville Police Department in the Animal Control division. She is one excited biology major! Thank you for all you have done to further ignite her passion and afford her three volunteer positions where I am confident the UIC connection mattered. She is UIC proud and we are very proud of her!

Pam George | Proud Parent of Kaylee George